Bay Area to benefit from $1.3M homeland security grant

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The Board of Supervisors City Operations and Neighborhood Services Committee accepted a $1.3 million federal homeland security grant Monday to pay for work on the ongoing Interoperable Emergency Communications Program.

“This is the second year that the region has received this grant,” said Amiee Alberston Alden of the Department of Emergency Management.

The project will strengthen "the ability of different agencies - police, fire, sheriff - to talk to each other during a disaster, as well as the ability of different jurisdictions like San Francisco, Marin and Oakland to talk to each other not only during a disaster but day-to-day."

Alden said that this communication issue "was identified by the 9-11 Commission report as one of the top priorities for improving disaster response across the country.”

San Francisco is the fiscal agent for the Bay Area counties use of homeland security grant money. The full board is expected to vote Tuesday to approve the grant.